Neev shot his own lightning. The magics clashed and raised sparks like fireworks.
"Ooh, pretty!" the teddy bear said and clapped.
Growling, Neev cast a magical green fist. It drove toward Madrila and punched her. The witch flew and hit the wall behind her. The bricks cracked. Neev grinned savagely and Madrila screamed.
Neev cast a fireball. Madrila pushed herself off the wall, spun, and shot her own fireball. The comets clashed and blazed, showering sparks. The monsters in the cages howled and slammed against the bars.
Lightning flew.
Magical arrows blazed.
Fireballs clashed.
Smoke, sparks, flames, and comets filled the hall. Stars blazed. Purple, green, and red lights flashed.
Neev had never cast so much magic. He growled, eyes narrowed. He was tired, so tired. Every spell cost more of his strength. But he had never felt so powerful, so in control. He was magic.
I can do this, he thought. I can beat her.
He shot a stream of light. The blast knocked Madrila onto her throne. She sat there, dazed and growling, twitching with magic.
"It's over, Madrila," Neev said. He stepped toward her slowly, fingers lit with magic. "You've lost."
He began uttering a lightning spell.
Madrila screamed and pointed her wand at him.
Magic crackled. Lighting flew, crashed, and blazed. Neev grunted. Magic slammed into him. He could see nothing but light. Had he hit Madrila?
"You cannot beat me, boy!" Her voice rose from the inferno. "Taste my magic."
Light flared. Purple bolts flew from the nebula. Neev tried to cast a counter spell, but could not; too much pain filled him. The bolts slammed into his chest. He flew through the air, hit a wall, and fell.
He tried to rise, to utter more magic, but another bolt hit him. He screamed. His body convulsed, and he tasted blood.
Romy's voice rose somewhere in the distance, muffled, miles away. "Neev! Neev! Stand up, monkey boy!"
He could barely hear her, could see nothing but light and sparks and fire. From the lightning, the silhouette of a woman walked toward him. Her hair flowed as if underwater. Soon Madrila stood above him, smiling, staring down upon him. Her cheek was bruised, her nose bled, but she still laughed. She pointed her wand toward him, and all he could do was stare up at her, trembling with lightning.
"And you, Neev," she said. "You I will turn into a doormat. I will leave you here by the gates, so that every day, my grunters and I can wipe our feet on you."
She began uttering a spell.
The doors slammed open behind them.
"Madrila, Madrila!" rose a voice, high pitched. "Look what I brought!"
Neev turned his head weakly, blinking. Just barely, he made out the figure of Willow. Surely he was dreaming; the apprentice seemed to stand before a horde of giant spiders. Then Neev's eyes rolled back, and he saw nothing more.
* * * * *
Cobweb stood in her cage, a small fuzzy spider. She stared through the chicken wire with wide eyes.
"Look, Madrila!" Willow cried, storming into the hall ahead of a diddlywiggle army. "I brought you spiders. Big ones!"
Beside her in the cage, the teddy bear Romy whimpered, and the mouse Jamie squeaked.
"Hey, d-d-diddwywiggwes!" Cobweb shouted. She sighed. Damn it. Even as a fluffy purple spider, I have the same stuttering voice.
The huge spiders, each the size of a pig, looked up at her. Their many eyes blinked and burned with rage. They opened their mouths, hissing and clicking. Humans ears would not understand them, but Cobweb could.
"They have caged you, fellow spider!" they said. "How dare the humans do this?"
Madrila stood over a groaning, smoking Neev. The young wizard shifted and moaned, hurt but alive. The witch stared up from him and met Willow's gaze.
"You!" she said. "I told you to stay out of this town, girl."
Madrila pointed her wand at the apprentice.
"Wait!" Willow said. "I tamed these spiders. I tamed them all by myself. They will help you fight the Bullies. They...."
The spiders were hopping and screeching. Drool dripped from their teeth and their eyes blazed. Their fur stood on end.
"The witch caged a fellow spider!" They trembled with rage.
Cobweb nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, and realized that in addition to English, she suddenly also knew Spidertongue, the language of spiders. She cried out in that ancient tongue of clicks, hisses, and grunts.
"The blond witch did it!" she said. "She caged me. She hurt me and my friends."
Cobweb gasped. Hey! I can talk all right in Spidertongue! This is great!
"Peter piper picked a pepper!" she said, grinning. "She sells sea shells on the sea shore! Do you hear me? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" She hopped with joy.
Eyes narrowed, Madrila examined the army of hissing, clicking spiders.
"Not too bad, Willow," the witch said. "Not bad at all. Maybe I taught you something after all."
Willow nodded, chin raised proudly. "I'm evil now!"
The spiders growled. "The witch caged the little one! We must save our tongue twisting friend!"
Cobweb nodded and shouted. "Get the witch! Get her!"
The spiders bounded forward, fangs glistening. They howled and leaped in a wave of fur, claws, and teeth. Madrila looked up and gaped. She raised her wand and shot one spider down. The others crashed upon her.
"Yeah, get her!" Cobweb shouted, jumping about. "Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair, fuzzy wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy, was he!" She began to sing and dance around. "I am the very model of a modern Major-General!"
The spiders scurried around Madrila, a typhoon of fuzz and long legs. Fur and smoke rose. Madrila screamed and the spiders screeched. Cobweb and the other Bullies watched with wide eyes. Even Scruff, the sack of turnips, seemed to watch through two rents that looked like eyes.
"No, no, stop!" Willow cried.
But the spiders kept swirling around Madrila, biting and shrieking.
"Mmm mmm, tasty witch!" they cried.
When they finally broke apart, Madrila was gone.
Cobweb rubbed her eyes and blinked. Nothing of Madrila remained. Not a shard of cloth. Not a lock of hair. Had she magically teleported away, or had the spiders truly eaten every last bite? The Bullies all stared in silence.
"Did you... eat her?" Cobweb asked.
One diddlywiggle, belly wide, coughed up a wand. It was Madrila's wand—the unicorn horn. It clattered against the floor, and the diddlywiggle belched.
"Oh dear," Cobweb whispered.
Romy rubbed her woollen belly. "I'm hungry too. Does anybody have a poodle?"
Chapter Twenty-Five
Witches' Wands and Demon's Drool
"Squeak squeak!" Jamie said twitched her whiskers.
"Mmmm ggmmmg!" said Scruff, and a turnip fell from him.
"You c-c-can do it!" Cobweb said, spinning a spiderweb.
"Come on, Monkey Neev!" said Romy. "Turn us back into the Bullies already! I think one of my stitches is opening."
Neev groaned and tugged his hair. "Will you all be quiet? I'm trying to focus here."
He stood in his old home on Friar Hill, sleeves rolled up and spellbooks opened before him. His fellow Bullies covered the table: mouse, sack of turnips, spider, and teddy bear. Neev leafed through the books, searching for a spell to turn them back, but couldn't find a thing.
"I don't know, guys," he said. "You might be stuck this way."
The table erupted with squeaks, groans, and shouts. The little Bullies bounced atop it, scattering vials and scrolls.
"All right, all right, calm down!" Neev said, raising his hands. "I'll keep looking."
He stared at the corner of the room, where Madrila's spellbook lay upon a shelf. He tightened his lips. Did he dare? The book might show him how to reverse the spells, but... opening the spellbook of a dead witch could be dangerous. Witches often
cursed their tomes. Neev had taken the book from the fort, and placed it here, but hadn't dared open it. If he did, would demons leap out? Would death rays blast him? Would the book grow teeth and bite off his hand?
He looked back at the table. The mouse, teddy, sack, and spider stared at him. Neev sighed. If I want to help them, I have no choice.
He reached toward the codex and hesitated, his hand in the air. The Bullies on the table watched him. Finally Neev tightened his lips, grabbed Madrila's spellbook, and opened it.
He winced, expecting a blast of fire or lightning. Instead he saw a note scribbled onto the first page:
Spells of power
for my mother, Amabel Brewer, who cast me aside
for my father, Jan Rasmussen, who banished me into darkness
for my siblings, the Thistles, who grew in warmth while I shivered
for all who hurt me
for the town that lost me
here is my power
here is my wrath
And oh the witch did cast her spells... and oh the mountains shook.
—Madrila
For long moments, Neev stood silently, staring at the inscription. The other Bullies squeaked and jumped; Neev barely heard them.
"What is it?" Romy asked. She covered her mouth, a mere line of yarn. "Did the book freeze you?"
Neev didn't reply. He read the words again and again, sighed, and finally closed his eyes. A chill ran through him, raising goosebumps across him.
"Goodbye, sister," he whispered, so quiet even the Bullies on the table could not hear. "I'm sorry. We never knew."
A deep sadness filled him, like a river under mountains, or a shard of ice floating on a melting pond. Light will never shine as bright. This home will never feel as warm. I lost a sister.
He leafed through the book's pages, tapped one, and nodded.
"Here," he said softly. "I found the spell I need."
I will keep your secret, Madrila, he thought, running his fingertip across the parchment. You will never have to know, Scruff and Jamie. You will never have to feel this sadness too.
He lifted the witch's wand, the unicorn horn. It still pulsed with dark power. He began reading the spell in the book.
"You better practice on Scruff first," Romy said. "Just in case you mess up the first time."
Neev nodded and pointed the wand at the turnip sack. The sack bounced and groaned, spilling turnips.
"Hush, Scruff!" Neev said. "I'm trying to focus."
He kept uttering the spell. The wand thrummed in his hand. A bolt of magic shot out, hit the sack, and exploded with sparks. The sack bulged, and soon Scruff sat upon the table in human form, blinking and rubbing his eyes. The table cracked and shattered under him.
"Squeak, eep!" shouted the mouse and spider.
Scruff sat on the floor, legs splayed out, shards of wood around him. He looked up at Neev and moaned.
"I fell on something," he said miserably, reached under him, and pulled out a flattened teddy bear.
"Ohhhhh," Romy moaned. Once a chubby teddy bear, she was now flat as a pancake. "I don't feel so gooood."
Scruff shook the flat teddy bear, and tried to reform it, as if trying to fluff up a pillow. Nothing helped. Romy wilted in his hands.
"You've turned me into a doily!" she said.
Neev winced and pointed his wand at Romy. "Hang in there, Romy. The spell will help."
He uttered it again, and a bolt of magic flew and hit the flat piece of cloth. The teddy bear ballooned, grew, and soon the old Romy sat on Scruff's lap. Once more, she was a demon with flaming hair, claws and fangs, and a wagging tail.
She leaped up and approached a mirror. She stood with her back facing it, looked over her shoulder at her rump, and groaned.
"Neev!" she said. "You gave me ten extra pounds, you did. I was way thinner before."
"Yeah, before eating all those birthday cakes," Scruff said.
Romy glared at him and poked his ample belly. "Look who's talking, turnip boy."
Neev cast the spell on Cobweb and Jamie next. The two grew back into girls and embraced.
"T-t-tank you, N-N-Neev," Cobweb said and kissed his cheek.
"Not bad, brother," Jamie said and punched his shoulder. She looked around her. "But this place is a bloody mess. Any good cleaning spells in that book of yours?"
Neev looked around him. Grunters had spent weeks living in this house, and they had trashed the place. Their drool covered the furniture. Their claw marks covered the walls. They had left dirty dishes and cutlery everywhere.
Romy looked around too and gasped. "My masterpieces! The grunters destroyed them!"
Her paintings, these ones from a series she called "Things Smaller than Scruff's Belly", lay torn across the room, showing shreds of mountains, cathedrals, and blue whales. Romy began collecting them and pouting.
"I think," Neev said, "that we'll need help cleaning up. And I know just the person to do it."
The Bullies all looked at one another.
"John Quill!" they said together.
Scruff hefted his mace. "Time to go visit our new cleaning lady."
* * * * *
Scruff marched through the town, mace in hand.
The other Bullies walked behind him. Around them, their army was busy cleaning up the streets. The little demons, Mandy and Annie, were training their hellhogs to pick up litter. The spiderlings were scrubbing ash off walls and re-thatching burned roofs. The elflings were herding chained monsters into the Porcupine's Quills tavern.
"Some of these monsters used to be townfolk," Neev called out. "Keep those ones safe. I'll turn them into humans soon."
The elflings nodded and goaded furry, scaly, and slimy creatures into the inn. Several animals walked among the monsters; Scruff saw piglets, a toad, and a monkey.
"They used to be children!" Rowyn called to them, herding the animals inside. "They wandered into town this morning and scratched their names into the dirt. We'll cure them too."
The Bullies kept walking, leaving the tavern behind. Soon they saw the printshop across a square, and Scruff growled. He gritted his teeth. He couldn't wait to grab Quill and shake the fear of God into him. He stormed across the square between hellhogs, kicked down the printshop door, and charged inside.
The house was empty. The closets were open and bare.
Scruff stared around, blinking. The other Bullies stepped in behind him and cursed.
"The coward escaped!" Scruff exclaimed.
"Sir Obvious saves the day again," Neev said. He stepped around the printshop, looking for clues. The printers were still there, but the metallic letters were missing.
Scruff kicked a wall in frustration. "Well, it looks like not every villain eats his just dinner."
"Just deserts," Neev said.
Scruff's belly grumbled. "Desserts? Where?"
Looking around him, Neev sighed. "I wonder if we'll ever hear from our friend John Quill again. His venomous prose might still poison gullible minds in some far reaches beyond our sight."
"Come again?" Scruff asked, scratching his head.
"He might still write bad stuff about us."
"Ah."
Romy stepped up toward them, chewing a bundle of straw. "Uhm, Nee' n' 'ruff? I 'ave a' 'dea."
Neev pulled the straw from her mouth. "What is it, Romy?"
She spat out some chaff, sneezed, and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "Well, if we can't find Quill's desserts, do you think Willow can make us some?"
Neev groaned. "No, Romy, they're not real desserts, it's an idiom. His just deserts—it just sounds like desserts, but it means something you deserve, spelled with one s." Romy was blinking at him, and Neev sighed. "Oh, nevermind. What are you thinking, Romy?"
She patted her belly. "Well, whenever Willow tried to cast evil spells, her wand always shot out cookies, candies, and gumdrops and stuff. Can we make her give us just desserts?" She hid her mouth and whispered to him. "Did I say it right? Just desserts is
really all I want. I don't need the earlier courses."
Neev slapped his forehead, groaned, and sighed. "We'll ask her, Romy. Okay?"
She wagged her tail.
They left the printshop, walked across town, and climbed Rosethorn Hill. The grass and trees were burned, and the fort rose barren above them, stripped of its roses. Whenever we rebuild, Scruff thought, some warlock or witch burns down the town. May this be the last time.
They entered the fort, walked across its hall, and stepped into the cellars. Whimpering and sniffling sounded in the shadows. A figure sat cloaked in darkness, hugging itself and rocking. A voice rose, miserable and trembling.
"Oh, Madrila... oh poor poor Madrila. I—sniff!—am so sorry!" Slaps sounded in the darkness. "Bad Willow! Bad! Ouch!"
Scruff grabbed a torch from the wall and stepped forward. He found Willow sitting in the corner. A chain ran from her ankle to the wall. The girl was slapping herself and crying.
"Oh bad Willow! Bad! Your spiders ate her, the only woman who ever cared for you." Tears flowed down her cheeks. She didn't even seem to notice the Bullies approach.
Scruff knelt by her. "Willow?" he asked softly. "Are you all right?"
She glared at him with puffy red eyes. "Of course I'm not all right! I—sniff—killed her! The only person who looked after me. Who protected me. Who taught me." Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she blew her nose into her sleeve. "I just wanted to help. And now she's dead, all dead because of me."
Romy tapped her cheek. "But you did a good thing," she said. "Madrila was evil. She was a witch!"
Willow stared at her. "And you're a demon. So what?"
Scruff tapped her chain. "Look, Willow, you tried to kill us. You helped destroy Burrfield. You have to be punished. I think you should stay here forever."
She hung her head low. "I deserve it." She sniffed. "I didn't want to destroy Burrfield. Honestly. I tried not to. But... Madrila, she... she said I had to destroy the church. When I couldn't do it, she banished me." She looked up with teary eyes. "I'm sorry, Bullies. I'm sorry for everything. I deserve this punishment."
Romy stamped her feet. "But I want just desserts!" She tugged Scruff's sleeve. "Please, Scruff, please let her go, please. She can't make us treats if she's down here." She turned next to Neev, making puppydog eyes. "Please, Neev, can you free her? I want cookies. Cooookies!"
Wand of the Witch Page 25
